Air conditioner



Sept. 19,1933. P. MOHLER AIR CONDITIONER Filed Dec. 16 i950 [N VENT OR 8Few Mole/er a YZYQNEY a I Patented Sept. 19, 1933'- UNITED STATES AIRCONDITIONER Pa'nl Mohler, Seattle, Wash.

Application December 16, 1930 Serial No. 502,687

10 Claims. (Cl. 261-103) My invention relates to airconditioners and thegeneral object of my invention is to provide a simple and efficient airconditioner which may be used to impart a desired temperature andhumidity to air and to clean said air of dust,

smoke and solid matter.

Another primary object of my invention is to provide an air conditionerembodying a conditioner member of flexible water absorbent material madeinto a shape which I have termed honey comb, to afford a plurality ofcontiguous side by side parallel passageways through which air may pass,said passageways being of suitable cross sectional shape to cause theair to take up a whirling or spiraling motion asit passes therethroughthus promoting contact of all of the air with the walls of thepassageways and more eillciently cleaning, humidifying and temperingsaid air. Y

Another primary object of the invention is to provide an air conditionermember of flexible absorbent material which -is capable of being bent ordistorted out of its normal shape to thereby provide passageways whichare not straight, whereby the direction of movement of the air will bechanged within said passageways arid whereby said air will be directedagainst the walls of the passageways to better clean and humidity andtemper the same.

Another primary object of the invention is to provide novel andefficient means for producing an even distribution of water throughoutthe walls of the air conditioner member.

Other and more specific objects of the invention will be apparent fromthe following descrip" tion taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a view in vertical section of an airconditioner constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is cross section of the same, taken through the air conditionermember substantially on broken line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detached view on a larger scale of a fragment of the airconditioner member.

Fig. 4 is a detached view of a frame member which may be used forsupporting my air conditioner member.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing my conditioner member supported in adistorted positionto aflord air pusageways which are bent or distorteditem a straight line.

Fig. 6 is a iragmentarycross section of a conditioner member in whichthe passageways are of triangular shape.

- erably sew a piece of material 13 across the top Fig. 7 is afragmentary cross sectional view showing an adaptation of an open troughfor supplying water.

Like reference numerals designate like parts throughout theseveralviews.

I My air conditioner member as disclosed in Figs. 1 to 5 is constructedof flexible absorbent material sewed or otherwise fastened together atthe locations 10 to form a plurality of substantially rectangular ordiamond shaped air passageways 11 enclosed by inclined walls 12. I haveherein termed this conditioner member a honey comb construction becauseof its similarity to a honey comb. By the term honey comb I mean anycellular construction in which the passageways are contiguous andunobstructed from end to end and are separated from each other only bytheir own walls and, as seen in elevation or cross 'sec tion present theappearance of a multiplicity of cells arranged in close formation. Thishoney comb construction differentiates from aconstruction in which aplurality of parallel plates or plane surfaces are used to form longnarrow passageways. By using the honey "comb construction in which theinternal cross sectional dimensions of the air passageways are somewherenear equal in all directions I am able to obtain a spiraling or rotarymovement of the air as it is drawn through said passageways, and this, Ifind,

is a. distinguishing characteristic of the honey comb construction andone which greatly in-' creases the cleaning and humid y and temperingefiiciency of the conditioner. In contrast. to this, I find that whenthe air ispassed between adjacent fiat surfaces, through relatively longnarrow spaces, this spiraling of the air will not occur and theefliciency will. not be so great and it will require more power to movea given amount of air. I contemplate making my conditioner unit of anydesired flexible, absorbent material and I find'that linen cloth oi. thevariety commonly used for toweling is one material which is satisfactoryfor this purpose.

In making my air conditioner member I prefof the cell structure and maysupport the said conditioner member, preferablyin a horizontal position,by two or more frame pieces 14 and 15 of inverted U shape, which arepassed underneath the piece of material 13 and rest on suitablesupporting means. The conditioner member may hang loosely, or it may besecured to the frame pieces, at its ends, as indicated at 18.

Water for keeping the conditioner member moistened is supplied through apipe 17 which extends across the top of the conditionermember underneaththe absorbent strip 13. This pipe has a plurality of perforations 18 inits upper side. The strip 13 of flexible absorbent material-rests on thepipe 17 and extends over the perforations 18 and helps, by absorption,to promote an even discharge of water from the perforations and totransmit this water to the walls tain an even discharge of water andsmaller perforations may be used. As an alternative in place of-theperforated pipe- 1'7, 1 may use an open trough 20, see Fig. 7, with theabsorbent member 13 extending over the top of said open trough anddipping into the water. This is less satisfactory than the perforatedpipe because it does not afford so eflicient a means for regulating theamount of water supplied to the conditioner member.

i Allof the walls of the conditioner member shown'in Figs. 1 to 5 aredownwardly inclined so that gravity will help to promote the downwardflow and absorption-of moisture in these walls. In the triangular cellstructure shown at 21 in'Fig. 6 one of the walls of each passageway maybe horizontal, but at least two of the walls of each passageway will bedownwardly inclined;

The conditioner member may be placed in any passageway or conduitthrough which air is drawn, as for instance, it may be placed in areceptable 22 which has an air inlet 23 on one side of the conditionermember and an air outlet 24 on the other side of the conditioner member.

A fan 25 may be positioned in the outlet 24 to induce or draw airthrough the air conditioner member and to drive said air to any desiredloca- [38.8888 eways.

tion. I find that a better and more efiicient spiraling of the airwithin the passageways 11 is obtained by drawing the air through saidpassageways than can be obtained by pressure methods. This spiraling aircomes in contact with the moistened walls of the passageways and 'isefiiciently tempered and humidified. Any solid matter, dust or dirt inthis spiraling air will have a tendency to move outwardly, due tocentrifugal force, and will be caught and held within the Thisconditioner may thus be used for cleaning air without moistening theconditioner member. The corners, in both the rectangular and triangulartype of passageway, afford a place where the air may eddy andconsequently more dirt and dust is deposited in these corners. Thesecorners also tend to hold more moisture than other portions of thewalls.

It will be noted that substantially the entire surface of the cloth isutilizedin my conditioner member and that the air is passed over thesurface of the cloth but is not passed'through said cloth, and that theconditioner member is readily removable for cleaning.

InFig. 5 I have shown the air conditioner member distorted in shape byusing the pipe 17 as one support and elevating said pipe 17 asubstantial distance above the horizontal top portions of the framemembers 14 and 15. when this is near-Joe done the two portions of eachpassageway 11 on opposite sides of the pipe 17 will be inclined relativeto each other'and the air, entering through one portion of thepassageway will have its direction changed and will be directed againstthe walls of the other portion of the passageway thus increasing thecleaning eflicienc'y of the conditioner member. Obviously more than onebend may be provided in each passageway and the sharpness of the bendsmay be great or little, as desired.

My conditioner may be used in warm weather for cooling and humidifyingair, or it may be used in colder weather in connection with a heatingplant for cleaning and humidifying air. It

- may also beused for de-odorizing and for various other purposes. a

The method of operation of my air conditioner is believed to be clearlyset forth in the foregoing description.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawing clearly discloses apreferred embodunent of my invention but it will be understood that thisdisclosure is merely illustrative and that such changes in the inventionmay be made as are fairly within the scope and spirit of the followingclaims.

I claim: 1. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member of flexibleabsorbent material and of honey comb construction affording a pluralityof air capillary attraction will tend to causesaid water to travel downsaid inclined walls of said passageways to maintain said walls inmoistened condition and means for passing air which is to be conditionedthrough said passageways.

2. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member of flexible absorbentmaterial and of honey comb construction aflording a plurality ofpassageways, therethrough, means for passing air through saidpassageways, a water container above said conditioner; member, saidcontainer being open on the top whereby water may escape and flexibleabsorbent material resting upon said water container and connected withsaid conditioner.

3. In an air conditioner; a conditioner member of flexible absorbentmaterial and of honey comb construction afiording a plurality ofpassageways therethrough, means for passing air through saidpassageways, a water supply pipe at the upper portion of saidconditioner member, said water supply pipe having upwardly directedwater discharge openings therein and flexible absorbent materialextending over said discharge openings and connected with saidconditioner member.

4. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member composed of strips offlexible absorbent cloth secured together at intervals to form a honeycomb construction affording a plurality of sub-.

stantially horizontal air passageways, an auxiliary strip of clothsecured to the top of said con- Y ditioner member, a substantiallyhorizontal water supply pipe extending across the top ofsaid-conditioner member underneath said auxiliary top strip of cloth,said pipe having upward ing of substantially square cross section andsubstantially uniform cross sectional area, said walls being inclinedrelative to the horizontal to promote a gravity distribution ofmoisture;

means supplying water to the upper portion of said conditioner member,and air circulating means connected with one end of said conditionermember.

6. In an air conditioner, a cell like conditioner member of flexibleabsorbent material of honey comb construction affording a plurality ofcontiguous passageways therethrough, which are unobstructed from end toend and are separated from each other only by relatively thin flexibleabsorbent walls, said passageways being of substantially square crosssection and the walls of said passageways being inclined relative to thehorizontal to promote a gravity circulation oi moisture, means forsupplying water to the upper portion of said conditioner member, andmeans for drawing air through the passageways 'of said conditionermember.

'7. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member composed of strips offlexible absorbent cloth secured together at intervals to form a honeycomb construction affording a plurality of contiguous unobstructed airpassageways of sub-' stantially square cross section through which airmay pass longitudinally without penetrating said cloth, water supplymeans positioned to. deliver water on the upper portion of saidconditioner member and frame means supporting said conditioner member.

8. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member of flexible absorbentmaterial and of honey comb construction affording a pluralityofcontiguous unobstructed air eways oi substantially squarecrosssection, the walls of said passageways being inclined at substantiallyfortyflve degrees relative'to the horizontal. water supply meanspositioned to deliver water at theupper portion of said conditionermember whereby the walls of said eways may be maintained in a moistenedcondition, and suction means connected with one end of said conditionermember whereby air will be drawn through said passageways.

'9. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member of absorbent materialand of honeycomb construction aflording a plurality of air'passagewaysof substantially square cross section extending therethrou'gh, theiwallsof said eways being positioned in planes inclined relative to thehorizontal, different longitudinal portions of said air passagewaysbeinginclined relative to each other, whereby the direction of movementof air will be changed in said passageways and said air will be broughtinto contact with the walls of said passageways, water supply meanspositioned to deliver water to the upper portion of said conditionermember, and means for producing a circulation of air through saidpassageways.

10. In an air conditioner, a conditioner member of. flexible absorbentmaterial and-of honey comb construction affording a plurality ofcontiguous unobstructed air eways therethrough, frame means supportingtions of said conditioner member an other frame means positioned abovesaid end supporting frame means and between the two ends of saidconditioner member and supporting the medial portion of said conditionermember in relatively elevated position whereby said passageways will beinclined downwardly in both directions from a-

